The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-10-22
AN ELEPHANT STORY.
Singular Sight Enjoyed From the Palace
at MandaIay.

Many were the sights / witnessed in
and out of the Palace a. Mandalay; but
nothing struck my attention so much
as the number of trained elephants,
lately belonging to the deposed mon
arch, and the splendid quarters in
which they were located, and my sur
prise was still more increased when 1
was introduced to, and entered into
conversation with the gentleman who
presided over this extensive establish
ment. He turned out to be a real
native of the Isle of Wight. The white
or mouse-colored elephant was there,
of course; but chow are the mighty
fallen" He was no longer in mag
nifcent pavilion, alone in his grandeur,
surrounded by many servitors of the
king; on the contrary, he was in
stall like the rest of the beasts, and, if
any thing, less noticed than many of
his finer brethren. One more anecdote
about this wonderful beast, and | have
done with elephants. Shortly before
our arrival, one of these animals had
greatly disgraced himself by refusing to
carry a certain weight of goods which
had been piled on his back. There is
the regulation weight, and the beasts
know to an ounce what they ought to
carry, and if any of the mahouts at
tempt to put a surplus amount on his or
their backs, it is Immediately shot onto
the ground. The animal in question
had been duly laden with weight
which was under the regulation scale;
but although it had been twice weighed,
as Mrs. Camp would say. before his
own eyes, he still refused to carry it.
This was too much for even his indul
gent driver, so he accordingly re-
ported, and just as we arrived he was
about to be tried for his extraordinary
and obstinate conduct. Several ele
plants were led out into large COURT
yard, forming a kind of circle around
the delinquent, who seemed already to
feel his position acutely, for he glanced
anxiously from time to time at his
mahout, who was visibly affected and
who stood by his head. A karen pre-
sided over the court-martial, and read
aloud the Indictment against the
offender, the elephants which consti-
tuted the jury apparently listening
with great attention. After the state
ment was finished and the mahout
examined, who by the way. gave his
evidence with great reluctance, the
karen decided that the case had been
distinctly proved, and the culprit was
adjudged the punishment of twenty
strokes Upon the announcement of the
verdict, the jury marched in Il most SOL
emn manner to distant part of the yard
and returned with switch about as
large as fair sized scaffold pole. In
the meantime the mahout had been ad-
dressing the offender, who was now
weeping copiously, large drops of tears
falling from his eyes, and occasionally
shrill and peculiar sound issued from
his capacious throat. The executioners
of the law were at hand. and stood
about twelve to fourteen feet apart, each
balancing with peculiar nicely in his
trunk the aforesaid switch. The Gull
prit was led up to the place, and as he
passed number one there was a sound
which resembled somewhat a sharp
clap of thunde; it was the first blow
delivered by the dread myrmidons of
the law. The blow was followed by
sharp, shrill scream, although there
was evidently an attempt on the part
of the culprit to suppress any exhibit
ton of pain. This punishment con-
tinued until the whole of the sentence
had been carried out: Although felt
considerable sympathy with the unfor-
tunate delinquent, was at the same
time intensely amused with the thor
ough business-like air with which these
ministers of justice carried out the sem
tence, There were no light blows de-
hvered; but as matter of fact each
elephant determined to administer u
heavier amount of punishment than his
neighbor, and the sly twinkle in the
eye as the blow was delivered was q
sight to see Primrose Magazine.